New York’s Union Death Panel

We’ve been hearing that New York city spent a much longer period locked in by snow than was necessary, due to an intentional work slowdown by protesting union workers.

A group of supervisors with the Sanitation Dept. is under media fire for partying in a van, drinking beer, next to stranded snow plows and vehicles.  Reporting that they had run out of fuel, the guys decided to kick back and enjoy each other’s good company.  That the supervisors felt they could do this reveals something about the chain of command in New York City.

Highlighted in the news were the deaths of an elderly person and a newborn baby who could not receive medical attention during the paralysis of transportation.

The New York  union death panels deserve credit for hundreds of uncounted deaths, and perhaps the inaction of city government was purposeful.

New York is a bankrupt city,  heavy with dependents needing medical and other tax payer assistance.   The fastest way to be rid of these people is to allow natural disasters to take their toll.  Exacerbating problems by inactivity and unresponsiveness of course increases the number of “natural” deaths.

Your friendly Pharmer knows exactly what happens in a hospital during a snow storm.  The rate of new admissions, particularly through the emergency room drops off precipitously.  This  extends for as long as transportation remains  blocked by the weather.

Do people stop having traumatic  injuries, chest pains, diabetic keto-acidosis, psychotic episodes, suicide attempts, births, strokes, and other emergent medical conditions just because it snows?   Of course not!   They simply go unattended and many of them die.

The news will not tell you about Bloomberg’s New York, Union, Death Panel,  which has likely stripped hundreds, or even thousands  of dependent human individuals from the welfare, medicaid, and social security rolls, by delaying cleanup.

That’s one way to deal with a financial crisis.  Expect more of it, especially if health care becomes both government controlled and unionized.

The Politics of Maternal Mortality

The Associated Press: Lancet: Sharp drop in maternal deaths worldwide.

Editor of the Lancet,  Richard Horton, despite pressure from advocacy groups seeking UN grants,  published a paper on Sunday  showing a marked drop in worldwide maternal mortality rates.

Advocacy can sometimes gets in the way of science,  Horton said, indicating his disappointment at the pressure.

Maternal deaths fell from a half million yearly in 1980 to about 343,ooo in 2008.

Delay of the story until after the UN meetings was sought, as it was felt that this good news would impede the ability of various groups to obtain funding for their various methods of preventing births, which includes, of course, abortions.

Lifenews notes that Ireland, a country with pro-life laws in place,  has the lowest maternal mortality rate, while Nepal,  a country with abortion on demand, has one of the highest rates.

Maternal mortality Increased by 42% in the United States between 1980 and 2008, according to the study.  During this period,  federal law permitted abortion at all stages of pregnancy.

The study by Christopher Murray and colleagues at Washington State was funded by……… believe it or not, Bill and Melinda Gates.